Backyard backcountry shuttle hike

Thanks to an obscure and usually sunny corner of Eldorado Canyon State Park, an exciting shuttle hike with some adventurous bushwhacking is just minutes from downtown Boulder.

This route can be done several ways. The easiest is to park one car at the south Mesa Trailhead and drive upstream to the highest lot, near the Eldorado Canyon State Park Visitor Center.

Between October and April, daily admission to the park is $6, and the 2008 annual pass is $60. The vehicle parked below will eventually need to enter the park to retrieve the other car, so you'll have to hope the ranger lets you through or otherwise pay additional admission. If you get by without paying, promptly get the other car and get out or risk being ticketed.

This time of year, slopes that receive sun are warm and dry with drastically different conditions hiding in the shade. You may encounter a variety of traveling surfaces such as ice, mud, snow, slick and dry &#8212; all nearby each other. Be prepared for anything.

Hike the Eldorado Canyon Trail north, on the west side of South Boulder Peak's south ridge toward Diamond Head and the Sobo Buttress, two obscure upper crags. Guidebook descriptions of the approach are vague and there is no established path from the Eldorado Canyon Trail to the ridge, so you might be navigating the old-fashioned way.

With an early start, you'll be walking mostly in the shade. Depending on the weather, the sun might occasionally hit you, but you will spend a while in the shadow of the south ridge.

Advertisement

Nevertheless, the Eldorado Canyon Trail is a pleasant place at dawn. A moderate grade allows for fine viewing of pink canyon cliffs and periwinkle peaks that blaze in December's low-angle morning light.

Surrounded by the red rubble of Eldorado Canyon, you will crunch over bruised pink and purple gravel, sporadically interrupted by the rumbling, rattling and whistling train that barrels westward across the valley.

After crossing a short and narrow metallic drainage tube, continue to a grassy spur south of Diamond Head &#8212; the large sandstone incisor on the spine above you &#8212; and follow a light game trail to the ridge.

You may also continue along the trail past the spur to a draw directly below the Sobo Buttress, the next big, pyramid-shaped formation north of Diamond Head. By doing this, you enter the Western Mountain Parks Habitat Conservation Area, and Boulder now requires off-trail hikers to obtain a free permit online at www.osmp.org.

Either way, you will bushwhack upward to the serrated spine. Tricky and exposed scrambling on the ridge can be fun, but it's easiest to navigate the western foot of the cliffs. Be sure to tread lightly in this remote, unmaintained section of the park. If you're interested in climbing, check guidebooks for information about these scenic and seldom-visited crags.

On the south side of the Sobo Buttress, a gully plunges steeply eastward into Shadow Canyon. This is Chaos Canyon. Although named after its big brother in Rocky Mountain National Park, you may find the terrain reinforces the connotation while descending.

The bushwhacking and route finding doesn't let up and you will wander around house-sized boulders down loose, forested scree. This time of year, stay to the left as you descend and avoid the cold and snowy shade.

Chaos Canyon pours out into the lower third of the Shadow Canyon. Follow the Shadow Canyon Trail down through the grassland to the Towhee Trail and return to your shuttle car at the south Mesa Trailhead.

Archived comments

It's extremely disapointing that the Camera would print an article encouraging visitors to not pay required entry fees to the state park.

"Between October and April, daily admission to the park is $6, and the 2008 annual pass is $60...If you get by without paying, promptly get the other car and get out or risk being ticketed."

Dye pours in 19 for TrojansSmothering. Confounding. And just a tad frustrating ... at least for the opposition.
Longmont's defense, whether they are playing a 1-3-1 zone, 2-3 zone or man-to-man -- and it can switch from possession to possession -- can give teams fits. Full Story

The Boulder alt-country band gives its EPs names such as Death and Resurrection, and its songs bear the mark of hard truths and sin. But the punk energy behind the playing, and the sense that it's all in good fun, make it OK to dance to a song like "Death." Full Story